good morning. the jury in italy convicts an american student of murder. the harsh sentence for amanda knox and reaction this morning from her family and friends. let it snow. yes, it's december, and it's supposed to look like this, but in houston? they haven't seen this kind of snow in cades, and it dsn't stop there. a aiorne. a baby boy i safely delivered at 30,000 feet thanks to the quk wk of the crew and a door oboard. we'll talkoim live today saturday, december 5th, 2009 captions paid for by nbc-universal televisi pretty picture of the chanl gardens here a rockefeller cent. welcome, everyone, to "toy" on this saturday morning. i'm lester ho. >> i'm amy bach. we've been covering this trial for more than a year and we finally have a verdict. >> last nht a judge in italy announced 22-year-old amanda knox and her former italian boyfriend are guiy of murdering her roommate more than two yea ago. we'll have a sentence and reaction including aninterview with amanda father comingp. nd a close look bind the joblessmbers. alightmprovent bngs cautious optimismrom the president, but for many americans unployment remains especially high. we'll look at the reasons why. also, let it snow. yeah, maybe, but not in housn. not only was it the earliest snow on record for the texas city but it washe heaviest snfall in me than three decades. 'll let you know how the city coped and tell you where the sn is headed. got to go somewhere. >> and the kids, look how mh fun they were having. some have never seen snow in their lives. >> always the kids. >> d't have to shol it. >> yeah. first, more on the guilty verdict for amanda knox. nbc's keith miller isive in perugia, italy, with the latest on that. keith, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, lester. well, there s intense drama in the courtroom early ts morng as the two judges and six jurors took about ten hours to reach a rdict. when the judge announced the guilty verdict,manda knox yelled out, o, no," and tn broke wn intears, her family sat stunned in the audience, her sister collapsing in tears. we're toldhat the sentence, in fact, is 26 years in prison for amanda knox, 24 years in prison for her ex-boyfrie, raffaele sollecito. the family was stunned. the father of anda kn came out of the courtroom. he looked like he was in a state of shk. we had a chance to talko him justfter theerdi was delived. why was ecoicted, do you thk? >> i belve that the charaer assassationnd t mia buildu was so trendous that that judge and that jury did not have the cougeo ovcome at, even though tvidence that was presented in tourt ofaw so clearly came to an innocent verdict. they didn't have the gs to overcome th. >>eporter:he ct's family today ld a news nferen. the kercher famy says that they welcomed the guilty verdict but thewere not celebrating. they said this was no trium. also, lester, u.s. sator maria cawell said she was very disappoint witthe ilian judicial system and would take up this verdict with sectary state hillary clinton. lester? >> keit is there an option to appeal under the itaan justice system, an if so, wil the knox mily take that opti? >> reporter: yes, absolute. 90 days from now,he judge must file his papers on h he reached this verdict. the knox family says they will appeal this ithey have to they say they will take it all the way to thetalian supreme court. lester? >> kei miller thi morning in italy, thank you. cong up inur next hour of "today," wll get rction on the verdict from amanda's friends thi anxclusive interview. here's am lester, thank you. noto the big sto at home, jobsand t continuing struggle to find work. the whi house is being cautiously optimistic, emphasis on the caution there, after the unploymentate dped ightly last month andar wer jobs were actually lost than expected. nbc's mike viqueira is at the white house with more o this. mike, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, amy. the president wcomethe news on the jobless front, though cautning the is still work to be done on t economy. now here in washingto there is talk of using thatank bailout fund to try and create jobs. >> good to be back in allentown. >> reporter: the good news on jobs was delivered by the president's top economic adviser. >> i've got to admit my chief economist got about four hugs when she handled us the report. >> reporter: but mr. obama cautious with the unemployment rate still in double digits at 10%. it's not yet time to celebrate. >> good friends don't pay the rent. >> reporter: the president has now turned his public focus back to the economy, hosting a job summit at the white house and friday traveling to hard-hit allentown, pennsylvania, touring a struggling metal works and a job training center. >> boost it up a little bit with the recovery effort. >> reporter: and holding a town hall event where the economy was topic one. >> we're concerned, and we don't -- we're holding back because these things we're just not sure what's going to happen. >> reporter: experts say the economy may stop shedding jobs in the coming months. >> by the spring of next year, maybe by the end of the winter we'll be adding jobs to this chi economy. >> reporter: heading into an election year, democrats aren't taking chances and are preparing new legislation with new spending to extend unemployment benefits and more for road and bridge construction and so-called green technologies, much of it paid for out of unused t.a.r.p. funds. >> the more jobs we create, the more money comes into the public till and therefore reduces the deficit. >> reporter: but republicans will oppose many of the new proposals, saying the president has overspent and underperformed. >> a jobless recovery in double-digit unemployment is not what the american people were promised. >> reporter: and, amy, many people here in washington had hoped to use those unused t.a.r.p. funds to help pay down the deficit. meanwhile, the president will continue with his so-called listening tour across america with more events coming up, but he delivers a major speech and hopes to provide details on what he wants to do about the jobless rate next week in washington. >> mike viqueira, thank you. joining us to talk about the latest economic news and the president's plan to revive the economy is labor secretary so s solis. good morning. >> good morning. how are you? >> i'm doing well. the numbers shrinked to 10%, but those who have been unemployed for six months or more, those numbers are growing, 5.9 million, the most on record since 1948. that said, when will a good trend become something permanent enough where people will actually be able to pay the rent? >> well, i think the president spoke correctly that we are doing everything we can now to kind of frontload a lot of programs and efforts to jump-start the economy, and the american recovery act investment funds are actually working for us right now. we helped to save 1.6 million jobs. we kept people in state government, teachers, police officers, firefighters, but more importantly in this report that we just saw yesterday, we saw an addition of temporary jobs, 52,000 more jobs that were added. we saw growth also in education and health care, about another 40,000 jobs that were added. so slowly we see the recovery act working, but we still need to see more happen, we still have about half of the recovery money that hasn't been totally issued. in fact, i am still issuing money for green job training, grants that will come out in the coming weeks. and i can tell you there's a lot of enthusiasm in terms of small businesses, medium-sized businesses getting into renewable energy, in the solar industry. we're seeing a lot of potential for growth and green jobs. so a lot of people who lost their jobs for example in the auto industry can be retooled and retrained to get zboo into these renewable jobs whether it's creating lithium batteries, manufacturing hybrid cars. those skills are transferable, but we need to act quickly and look at how we extend programs to help support those people that are still in need of unemployment insurance. and we're working with the congress on that. >> secretary, republicans have criticized this administration for not investing enough in the private sector. president obama said it's really up to the private sector to create those jobs on its own. here's what former presidential candidate mitt romney wrote this week in "usa today." he said -- what's your reaction to that? >> oh, i think he's absolutely wrong. in fact, i was in nevada where he issued a grant for $138 million to invest in the smart grid system, and the agreement was that the state would also, through private investments, would have to match that. so you're really looking at almost $300 million that's coming together that will create more jobs in this new industry. so i think a lot of people perhaps are misinformed and not aware of many of the jump-start programs. i mean, the fact we're being able to open up auto plants, for example, in rhode island, put back 2,000 jobs to create new hybrid vehicles, that's not something just driven by the federal government. this is a public/private partnership. >> secretary solis, what about the leftover t.a.r.p. funds? how will they be used? many would like them to be used for different things but one was stimulate job creation. do you think that's possible at this point? >> it may be possible. there's a lot of discussion and interest in putting more targeted funds into the infrastructure. we still need to do a lot of repair work in our roads, in our railway system. so i think that those discussions will be ongoing, and next week the president will speak before the american public to talk more clearly about what those plans might be. >> labor secretary hilda solis, thanks for your time this morning. >> thank you. >> now here's lester. >> all right, amy, thanks. the overall unemployment rate is 10%, it is far higher for african-americans, more than 15%. nbc's ron allen looks at the reasons. >> reporter: at this job fair in new york, the statistics say it will be tougher for the unemployed african-americans to find work. >> give you my card. >> reporter: she wonders if race limits her chances. >> it's not something that you can specifically put your finger on and definitively say that's what's going on partly because it's not politically correct to do that and partly because it's very subtle. >> reporter: they struggle with the perception of reality of higher unemployment rates for blacks than whites. the reasons, analysts say, are because the economy has lost many jobs black workers traditionally hold in urban areas, in manufacturing and retail. and during this recession, the gap has also widened further up the ladder between workers with college degrees, which some argue is not just an economic problem. >> there are multiple factors, but i think even among the college educated the issue of discrimination probably played some role. >> reporter: to measure that, rrges are tested employees by sending resumes with different sounding names. >> the resumes get 50% more positive responses than the la'keshia and jamal resumes. >> reporter: labor experts say bias remains a sensitive issue with no easy answers, one that many employers and those looking for work try to avoid but try to help focus on what seems to narrow the gap. for example, many minority professionals lack networks of friends and colleagues that often provide leads about jobs and opportunities. this nonprofit tries to build those connections. >> what we focus on is providing that access and opportunities to companies, to senior individuals and senior leaders. >> reporter: after the job fair, andre mcnair, a former pharmaceutical industry manager, says things are still tough. >> i have to agree with our president. sometimes it has to get a little worse before it gets better. >> reporter: an economic story that can be told in numbers and colors across the country. for "today," ron allen, nbc news, new york. >> for more insight into the latest unemployment data and what it means for the broader economy, we're joined by cnbc's senior economics reporter steve leaseman. good to see you. >> good morning, legser. >> we like the headline, unemployment drops. what do economists look for beyond the headline? >> a couple things. the unemployment rate is the least of this the things they are looking at. the drop in payroll showed a sequential decline time after time. i have to do a double take when that number came out because i thought it was missing a digit there. it's been over 23 months we've had these losses in the six digits right there. that was one thing. temporary unemployment, you heard the labor secretary talk about that, that's usually the precursor. employers bring on workers on a temporary basis first and then they become permanent. that's been up four straight months. we had the highest temporary rise in five years. >> and people are working longer days. >> another aspect, lester. take your existing employees and give them a longer work week before you brought on new employees. the 33.2 hours can weigh down and it's gone back up. >> what about those who point out some of this is a result of government intervention and that has a shelf life? what happens after the government stimulus plan runs out? >> i think it's definitely a part of government intervention, part of these numbers that's helping the economy improve. the question has aums been when the government stepped in could we make that transition to the private sector, and that still is a ways off. private sector is just getting on its feet. >> reading some of your notes, you brought up the banking industry, that the banking industry has got to like these numbers. why? >> here's the way it works. they call it a virtuous -- in this case, lester, a vicious cycle. every unemployed person that holds a mortgage is a potential mortgage foreclosure. a potential mortgage foreclosure is a hit to a bank. a hit to a bank is a loan not give on the a small business and that loan not given is another potential unemployed person. that's how the circle works. keep people employed, they keep their mortgages, they get a loan from the bank and hire people. >> you like this news at a lot of levels. >> a lot of levels. >> here's amy. parts of the southeast are getting hit by some early season snow this morning, and while people many in much of the country are getting out the shovels and tuning up the snowblowers, that's not usually necessary in houston, texas, where a rare snowstorm is the talk of the town. nbc's michelle kosinski has more. >> reporter: no, this isn't new york or chicago, but it sure doesn't look like texas. >> it's cold. and it's fun. >> reporter: snow in the air, on the tongue, on the palm, and everyone doing their best to contain themselves. >> i've never seen the snow. >> reporter: around houston, the kids got out early and adults played hooky. >> it's awesome, it's crazy, like the city shutting down. >> reporter: newscasters got to bust out their snappiest headgear. >> there's almost no more snow on the ground. >> reporter: well, it doesn't take much. even tiny snowmen are cool in a city that doesn't own a snowplow. houston got about 2 inches ten years ago. the last time it fell like this was around 1973. >> i don't know how to drive on snow and ice. >> reporter: and they got a taste of what happens at the airport. planes also sticking on the ground. still, it was a fluffy alternative to the pouring rain, tornadoes that raged across the south the last few days. in other parts of the southeast, we haven't even had our first cold breeze let alone cold snap. it's about 85 in miami and steamy. and it might just be hot again in houston soon. average temperature right now is closer to 70 than snowfall. might as well enjoy it while you can. and they did. for "today," michelle kosinski, nbc news, miami. 85 sounds pretty good right about now. let's check in with nbc meteorologist bill karins. good morning. snow in houston. what's going on? >> if i had told you it was going to snow an inch in houston before it was going to snow an inch of snow in syracuse, new york, this morning, you would have told me i was crazy, but that's what's happened. this has been an upside down winter, and that snow is heading east. we're looking at snow in the mountains of georgia, kentucky, and into areas later today like baltimore, washington, d.c., philadelphia, even new york city and southern new england. now, on this map, the white is snow. you are looking at the entire state of west virginia covered in snow as you wake up this morning, even portions of ohio, and then the rain is going to move up the mid-atlantic. this is not going to be a blockbuster snow event, but it will be the first snow of the season for many area, including the big cities on i-95. lester, amy? >> at least it will look pretty, right? bill karins, thanks. we'll see you back shortly for the rest of the nation's weather. >> it is december. more on the morning's headlines from tamron hall. good morning. >> good morning, everyone. we begin in southern afghanistan where u.s. marines are pressing into a remote taliban stronghold. 1,000 marines and 150 afghan troops are involved in operation cobra's anger. it is the first major offensive since president obama announced 30,000 more troops to be deployed to that region. and democratic senator max baucus was romantically involved with a former staffer when he recommended her to become the next u.s. attorney for montana. the chairman of the senate finance committee recommended melody haines and two others to the white house as potential nominees. the two began their relationship in the summer of 2008 after baucus separated from his wife. hanes later withdrew her name from consideration. and in indiana, 17-year-old andrew conley pled not guilty friday to strangling his 10-year-old brother, connor. according to authorities the teen struggled his younger brother because it made him feel like the fictional television serial killer on a showtime series called "dexter." the wake for connor was held on friday. the producers of "dexter" have no comment. for the fifth week in a row, the government says the h1n1 outbreak is slowing down. 25 states are now reporting widespread infections off its peak of 48. now, this news comes as a vaccine is now more available with about 73 million doses. and finally, the first nba team to start their season 0-18, they got a win. the new jersey nets beat the charlotte bobcats last night 97-91. and now the team is looking to go for a losing streak -- to change the losing streak -- go from a losing streak to a winning streak. i saw some interviews of those players, and i think they were in just disbelief. an early christmas gift to all you nets' fans, all two of you out there. >> oh! >> i live in brooklyn. they're coming to brooklyn to play. i can't wait. we hope. some of us. let's talk a little bit about this snow. it's an incredible historic event in places like texas, snowed in birmingham, alabama. today mostly a rain event in areas of the mid-atlantic but it will turn to snow >> good morning, temperatures falling in the baltimore metropolitan area. snow is beginning to mix in. however temperatures today, that's your saturday weather. lester? >> bill, thanks. there is sadness in washington this morning over the news tyshaun, the hugely popular 4-year-old panda cub at the national zoo, is about to be moved permanently to china. andrea mitchell explains why. >> reporter: he appears unfazed, oblivious to the uproar over his custody. >> we understand this is traumatic for a lot of people, not the least of which our own staff but for the public. >> i'm sorry. we're going to miss him. he's on my web cam every day. >> reporter: the zoo says 2 million people a day have watched tie jian's webcast. he was nicknamed butt